While his legacy may have been a mixed bag of sorts (Look up the term “Macekre“, or research the feud between fans of Robotech and older, butt-hurt Macross fans), he was instrumental in expanding the medium of Japanese Animation over to the United States and influencing generations of fans, including myself. Despite the polarizing reactions he received for the Macross debacle, people forget that he formed one of the first (if not the first) companies dedicated to distributing Anime uncut… even with the free wheeling scripts and all.

Rest in Peace, Carl. And thanks.

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2 Responses to “Obit: Carl Macek (1951-2010)”

I have mixed feelings about the man myself. His contributions to exposing anime to an American audience are undeniable, yet I can’t help but wonder if his method of “localization” is why the American anime industry has sucked so bad to this day…

I can’t even watch Robotech anymore… It was the show that really propelled me into the world of anime more than any other, but when I familiarized myself with the anime in it’s original form (and many others), I lost all taste for the localized versions and localization in general. If you don’t like Japanese culture or language, WTF are you doing watching their animation? Sometimes people get pissed when I characterize dub fans as racist, but really, if you’re not developmentally disabled or dyslexic or something, why would you prefer Americanized dubs? I can only think that either you’re racist, illiterate, or one hell of a lazy piece of crap if that much reading bugs you…

Anyway, I know I’m really opinionated, but I’ve never HATED Carl or anything. I didn’t care for his methods so much, but I owe him a debt of gratitude nonetheless…

Years ago, when I got to learn about the history between Robotech/Macross and the localization of Anime, I was NOT a fan of Macek at all.
But in recent years, I was a able to view his methods in a different light. I had to take into consideration that 25 years ago, the business of importing and selling Anime to a western market was in it’s infancy, and the mindset of how to approach the distribution was much more conservative.
Lastly, Macek’s involvement into Anime Distribution in the years up to his death have been pretty straight forward.

Remember, at the time, Macek was one of the few writer/producers in the TV industry that was willing to distribute Anime in its orignal form.
He wanted to release Macross uncut, and even made a demo dub (It’s on the ADV release of Macross vol. 1). However, this was 1985, and Harmony Gold wanted a show that could be syndicated and aired on TV, and the Toy companies already had the merch. deals laid out.
(an uncut Macross would have raised some eyebrows in 1985, even though it’s nothing compared to what’s on TV these days).

However, it’s the results of methods like the “Macekre” that led a movement from the fandom to create their own companies (Like the former ADV Films) which made an emphasis to distribute Anime titles in a way that they remained close to the original content.

As for my thoughts the Sub/Dub debate, I stopped caring altogeter.
It really comes down to my first impression while watching the show, and who I felt did a better job at presenting the story.
Sometimes, the Local adaptation can outdo the original script and cast, but that’s subjective.

And most shows that I consider “Localized” (Adapting a foreign work for a local market and/or a target demographic, albeit with heavy editing), I don’t wathc anyway.